Nathon Lyon is Australia's incumbent Test spinner, but as seen on the last Ashes tour, that doesn't mean much.

Nathan Lyon (C) is likely to get first crack at England this summer.Source: Getty Images

NO article about Australia's spin stocks can be complete without an obligatory reference to Shane Warne, so we'll get ours out of the way early.

While the battle for pace bowling spots in Australia's Ashes side has been front and centre for the best part of a year, there has been a similar fight going on for the sole spinners' berth.

Perhaps 'cold war' is a more accurate way of describing it.

Australia's selectors and those in the team speak glowingly about Nathan Lyon, both in terms of his bowling improvement and his level-headed personality.

Yet despite this, he's been dropped twice in the past year, and now finds his spot under pressure from a man who couldn't play for Australia until a few months ago.

IN the final instalment of our five-part Aussie Ashes Audit, we look at the bowlers jostling for the opportunity to spin Australia to victory this summer.

The incumbent: Nathan Lyon

In all our previous Audit articles, we had a sub-heading entitled 'The sure thing', but it's plainly obvious that doesn't exist when it comes to Australia's spinner.

Despite more than two years of reliable performances that have fluctuated between 'very good' and 'not too bad' and resulted in 85 wickets from 25 Tests, Nathan Lyon is still forced to look over his shoulder before every Test line-up is announced.

This is natural after his previous experiences, when he was dropped for the second Test in India in favour of Xavier Doherty and Glenn Maxwell, and then again for the first two Ashes clashes in England when he made way for teenager Ashton Agar.

He eventually returned to the Test side and looked a far more troubling prospect for England's batsmen. Some of them, most notably Kevin Pietersen, decided all-out attack was the best method of countering Lyon, and while the off-spinner might have conceded more boundaries than he would have liked, he also collected Pietersen's wicket on two occasions.

Match figures of 7-97 in the fourth Test looked to have sealed his spot in the side for a short while at least, but heading into this summer Lyon again finds himself under pressure.

Playing on the small, batsman friendly grounds used in the Ryobi Cup would have helped, although he did still pick up nine wickets for the tournament.

But Lyon may still need a couple of strong showings for NSW in the Sheffield Shield to ensure he pulls on the baggy green in Brisbane in three weeks' time.

The contender: Fawad Ahmed

On a day when Shaun Marsh couldn?t, Fawad Ahmed played himself into Ashes calculations as Victoria stormed to innings points at the MCG.

Few cricketers have had more written about them over the past six months than Fawad Ahmed.

His journey from Pakistani refugee to Australian cricketer is now legendary, but it's on the pitch where his efforts are now focused.

After making his international debut in the post-Ashes limited-overs series, Ahmed will need to continue his good form with the red ball if he's to earn a fairytale Ashes call-up.

The leg-spinner started that quest well on Thursday, taking 6-68 on day two of Victoria's Shield clash with Western Australia at the SCG.

"When you're feeling good ... it doesn't matter who you're playing against or what kind of track it is," Ahmed said on Thursday night.

With more performances like that, 'who he's playing against' could all of a sudden become very important.

The bolter: Ashton Agar

If this list was compiled before the last Ashes series, Ashton Agar would have been in this category as well.

In between then and now, he's played two Tests and entered Ashes folklore after his breathtaking innings of 98 at Trent Bridge.

But his efforts with the ball, in which he picked up just two wickets (although he should have had one more, as he was the biggest victim in the Stuart Broad not walking saga), saw him dropped from the side.

Agar's height gives him an extra string to his bow, but the left-armer will need to work more on moving the ball laterally if he's to survive at Test level.

Two wickets in Western Australia's opening Shield game would have helped, but the fact he was comprehensively out-bowled by Ahmed won't have been so beneficial.

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